$(document).ready( function () { talk_rendercallback({"enabled":"0","islive":"0","eid":6478,"total":"5","discussion":[{"nm":"James Edwards","rs":"0","ms":"The circuitous process which the health care bill went through Congress was not all that surprising given the nature of how Congress works. Obama made the mistake in letting Congress write the bill and let them do all the lifting while he is left with giving the speeches on the benefits of the bill.  He should have written a legislative proposal that he wanted and submitted to Congress to decide which elements would be incorporated into the final bill.  For that he spent lots of capital for the effort.\n\nGiven that many special interest groups, certain biased media and candidates for public office would spend ordinate amount of money and time trying to influence the debate and get people to react to misinformation (this coming from Wendall Potter) with varying degree of fear during the town hall meetings, much of it was political calculation to either defeat or support it.","pt":"Jun 22, 2010 10:32"},{"nm":"Thomas G. Mitchell","rs":"0","ms":"Despite the Clintons\' experience, Obama made a major error by attempting to let Congress write the bill itself. Congress represents local interests, partisan interests, and increasingly special corporate interests not the national interest. Had Obama taken ownership back in the Summer or Fall of 2009 he could have passed the bill sooner, likely passed a better bill, and at less cost to his presidency. He, hopefully, will learn the proper lessons from this experience. ","pt":"Apr 13, 2010 23:16"},{"nm":"Jim Jeter","rs":"0","ms":"This story is about the "sausage making" that has become part of our legislative process.\n\nThe most alarming point was the August recess, where people were shouting down members of congress and all the "FUD" - Fear, Uncertianty & Doubt about the healthcare bill.\n\nIt was ironic that these opponents of Obama and the healthcare bill, compared Obama to Hitler, using the very same tactics used by the Nazis in the 1930s, by creating misinformation and fear. ","pt":"Apr 13, 2010 22:41"},{"nm":"Jeanie Embry","rs":"0","ms":"Why are Republicans so against the new Health Care Reform Bill when it\'s modeled largely from Republican ideas, ie Nixon, Eisenhower, and Mitt Romney\'s Mass Plan.","pt":"Apr 13, 2010 18:34"},{"nm":"Jeanie Embry","rs":"0","ms":"No other developed country has left the for-profit motive at the core of its health care delivery systems and made it work. How then, do US policymakers expect to be successful at health care reform by keeping the Wall-Street driven core in-tact?","pt":"Apr 13, 2010 18:31"}]}); });